Whew

Jeremy Hazell had the worst game of his college career, St Peter’s controlled the tempo, and Seton Hall spotted the Peacocks an eight rebound advantage. Thankfully, Eugene Harvey’s three point prayer was answered, and the Pirates survived to hold on 53-51 last night at The Rock.

Let’s hope we don’t have to relive that for the rest of the non-conference schedule.

After the game, Bobby Gonzalez said he was impressed with a St Peter’s team that was able to control tempo the entire game. We wrote in our game preview that the Peacocks would look to keep the scoring in the 60’s. They actually tried to keep it in the low-50’s and did so by controlling the offensive glass. Meanwhile, they harassed Jeremy Hazell into an 0-for-10 performance from the field.

A few other notables

- Eugene Harvey came off the bench, and in the postgame press conference Bobby said 1) he had a thigh bruise and 2) “no one is safe” in the starting lineup. Harvey played 32 minutes, so you can guess which of the two factors weighed most heavily.

- 17 offensive rebounds for a SPC team that was without Jordan Costner, who pulled down 12 boards in last year’s edition of this matchup. Same old Pirates?

- 7,001 fans and an energetic student section – good start.

- 29 minutes for John Garcia. That is a good sign for the perpetually injured big man

- Herb Pope did a little bit of everything, including being the Hall’s top assist man last night

- Lots of Big East teams struggled in their early season contests. No need to panic, but this team will need a lot of time to figure itself out.

Leave your thoughts below. If the Pirates do go on a run this season, Pirate fans will cease looking back on this game as an "uh oh" moment, and remember it as a sign that this was a team of destiny. Funny how time can change perspective like that.